Google Nexus 4 goes through our battery test, see how it scored

Being the latest Nexus device, the LG Nexus 4 has been burdened by a lot of expectations. As our review pointed out, it’s not only a handsome device, but also quite powerful. What’s been left unanswered (so far) is how good its battery is at keeping the whole thing running.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus launched exactly a year ago posted terrible battery results due to an unfortunate combination of a relatively small battery capacity of 1750mAh, large high-res screen and not the terribly efficient TI OMAP 4460 chip. In comparison, the LG Nexus 4 features a 2100mAh battery and a 28nm Qualcomm chip, so let’s see how it did.

First up is our talk time test. With the four 1.5GHz Krait cores idle during calls, the ample battery was made to count and the Nexus 4 posted a very good time of 14:17h. Strangely enough, though, it came more than an hour short of the Optimus G achievement.

Talk time

Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)21:18

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX20:24

Motorola RAZR i20:07

Samsung Galaxy Note II N710016:57

LG Optimus G15:30

Google Nexus 414:17

HTC One X+13:31

Huawei Ascend P112:30

Samsung Galaxy Note12:14

Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam11:58

Samsung Galaxy Premier11:30

HTC Droid DNA11:07

HTC Windows Phone 8X11:07

Samsung Wave 3 S860011:07

HTC Desire X11:03

HTC One X (AT&T, LTE)10:35

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III10:20

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)10:15

HTC One V10:00

Meizu MX 4-core10:00

HTC One X9:57

HTC One S9:42

Samsung I9103 Galaxy R9:40

HTC Sensation XL9:30

Nokia Lumia 7109:05

Acer CloudMobile S5009:05

Motorola Atrix HD9:04

HTC Vivid9:02

Nokia Lumia 9208:56

HTC Rhyme8:48

Apple iPhone 58:42

LG Optimus 3D Max P7208:42

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V8:41

Meizu MX8:39

Samsung Galaxy S II8:35

Samsung Galaxy S Duos8:28

Nokia Lumia 8008:25

Samsung Galaxy Nexus8:23

HTC Desire V8:20

Samsung Captivate Glide8:20

Sony Xperia T8:15

HTC Rezound (LTE)8:10

Samsung Galaxy Note (LTE)8:02

LG Optimus Vu7:57

LG Optimus 4X HD7:41

Apple iPhone 4S7:41

Samsung i937 Focus S7:25

HTC Evo 4G LTE (LTE)7:21

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G7:14

Nokia Lumia 8207:09

Sony Xperia acro S7:09

Samsung Rugby Smart I8477:09

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro6:57

Nokia N96:57

HTC Radar6:53

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos6:53

BlackBerry Curve 93806:52

Samsung Galaxy S III mini6:22

Samsung Galaxy Pocket5:54

Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T (LTE)5:53

Sony Xperia ion LTE5:52

Sony Xperia P5:33

Nokia 808 PureView5:16

LG Nitro HD (LTE)5:16

HTC Titan II (LTE)5:10

BlackBerry Bold 97905:00

Pantech Burst4:46

When we subjected the Galaxy Nexus to our browsing test last year it scored what’s still the worst score we have seen. It wasn’t too difficult for the LG Nexus 4 to beat the result of its predecessor, and it did surviving for 4 hours and 34 minutes on a single charge. However, when you look at the big picture, that score is still rather poor, being more than two times lower than that of the Apple iPhone 5.

Web browsing

Apple iPhone 59:56

Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)9:12

Apple iPad mini9:05

Samsung Galaxy Note II N71008:48

HTC One X+7:56

Samsung Galaxy S III mini7:38

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX7:23

HTC Radar7:17

Motorola RAZR i7:06

Apple iPhone 4S6:56

HTC One V6:49

HTC Droid DNA6:40

Samsung Galaxy Premier6:40

Motorola Atrix HD6:40

BlackBerry Curve 93806:40

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)6:27

Samsung i937 Focus S6:15

HTC Windows Phone 8X6:01

Sony Xperia ion LTE5:56

Samsung Rugby Smart I8475:53

Pantech Burst5:51

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G5:45

HTC Desire V5:44

HTC Evo 4G LTE5:41

Nokia Lumia 9205:40

Samsung Wave 3 S86005:34

Sony Xperia T5:33

Samsung Captivate Glide5:33

Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam5:28

Samsung Galaxy Note LTE5:24

Samsung Galaxy S Duos5:23

HTC Sensation XL5:20

Meizu MX 4-core5:19

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III5:17

Sony Xperia acro S5:16

HTC Rezound5:16

HTC Desire X5:16

LG Optimus G5:15

HTC Rhyme5:08

Samsung I9103 Galaxy R5:07

HTC One X (AT&T)5:03

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro4:50

LG Optimus Vu4:49

HTC Vivid4:46

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos4:45

Meizu MX4:35

Google Nexus 44:34

Nokia N94:33

Acer CloudMobile S5004:32

Nokia Lumia 8204:24

Samsung Galaxy S II4:24

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V4:20

HTC One X4:18

Nokia 808 PureView4:14

LG Optimus 3D Max P7204:10

Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T4:10

Nokia Lumia 8004:07

HTC Titan II (LTE)4:05

HTC One S4:03

BlackBerry Bold 97904:02

LG Nitro HD4:00

LG Optimus 4X HD3:59

Sony Xperia P3:59

Nokia Lumia 7103:51

Samsung Galaxy Pocket3:47

Samsung Galaxy Note3:35

Huawei Ascend P13:23

Samsung Galaxy Nexus3:01

The video playback test brought more disappointment to the LG Nexus 4. The Google purebred took a freshly charged battery to 10% in 4 hours and 55 minutes. Even, the Galaxy Nexus fared a lot better taking advantage of the superior efficiency of its Super AMOLED screen when watching movies.

Video playback

Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)16:35

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX14:17

Apple iPad mini12:51

Samsung Galaxy Premier12:51

Samsung Galaxy Note II N710011:27

Apple iPhone 510:12

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III10:01

Nokia 808 PureView9:53

Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam9:42

Samsung Rugby Smart I8479:34

HTC One S9:28

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)9:27

Apple iPhone 4S9:24

HTC Evo 4G LTE9:07

Nokia N98:40

Samsung Galaxy Note8:25

HTC One X+8:11

Motorola RAZR i8:11

Samsung Galaxy S II8:00

Samsung i937 Focus S7:55

Samsung Wave 3 S86007:52

Samsung Galaxy S III mini7:46

Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V7:45

Huawei Ascend P17:38

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G7:33

HTC Droid DNA7:30

Samsung Galaxy Note LTE7:30

LG Optimus G7:16

Meizu MX 4-core6:33

HTC Windows Phone 8X6:27

HTC Desire V6:26

HTC One X (AT&T)6:26

Nokia Lumia 8206:25

Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos6:25

LG Optimus Vu6:23

Samsung I9103 Galaxy R6:21

Nokia Lumia 9206:19

HTC Sensation XL6:12

Samsung Galaxy Pocket6:06

Samsung Captivate Glide6:04

Sony Xperia ion LTE6:03

Samsung Galaxy Nexus6:02

Sony Xperia T6:01

Motorola Atrix HD6:01

HTC Vivid6:00

HTC Radar5:54

Nokia Lumia 8005:52

HTC Titan II5:50

BlackBerry Bold 97905:47

HTC One X5:45

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro5:44

Sony Xperia acro S5:38

HTC Desire X5:38

Pantech Burst5:38

Meizu MX5:27

HTC Rhyme5:23

HTC One V5:20

Acer CloudMobile S5005:18

Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T5:18

BlackBerry Curve 93805:09

HTC Rezound5:03

Google Nexus 44:55

Samsung Galaxy S Duos4:30

Sony Xperia P4:30

LG Nitro HD4:17

LG Optimus 4X HD4:14

LG Optimus 3D Max P7203:28

Nokia Lumia 7103:27

The Google Nexus 4 ended our test with the rather mediocre 32h endurance rating. That means you will need to charge the smartphone every 32 hours if you do an hour each of talking, browsing and watching videos per day. Just to remind you, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus managed just 1 hour less, so Google is hardly making too great progress here.

You might get better endurance if you mostly use your smartphone for talking, but that’s hardly what the Nexus 4 was made for. We can’t help but wonder, with battery life obviously not the Nexus 4 element, why Google and LG decided to drop the user-replaceable battery. At least Galaxy Nexus owners have the option to always carry a spare battery with them and get twice the endurance.